The Portland daily press., 1887-05-16
FREsHET ON THE NpRoscoccIN.
Damage Caused by the Dam Giving
Out at Errol.
Railways and Highways on the Low
Grounds Drowned Out.
The Worst of the Freshet Thought to
be over.

LEWISTON, May 14.-Telegrams from Ber-
lin Falls state that the dam OF the Union,
Water Power Company at Enrol, n H., went
out Thursday morning under the pressure of
the melted snow,
This dam was situated about four miles
from the outlet of Lake Umbagog and below
the confluence of the Magallaway river,
which d.ains Lake Parmachren. Umbagog
is the outlet of the large chain of lakes but
they are secure, new dams having been erect
ed within a few years at the outlets of each.
umbagog has an area of 20 square miles,
and 1t is this volume of water that has been
turned loose. The dam was about 800 feet
long, but the waterway was about 70 feet
wide. 1t was an old structure A new one
was to be built this season, nsing this as a
coffer-dam while the new structure was be-
ing erected.
Mr.. James Wood of this city, thought that
there would be little, il any, appreciable rise
In the water here. The dam was built a
good many years ago by Coe, Dunn & Pin
gree. Four feet of water have been running
over the dam and the gates and sluice ways
have all been open to relieve the great pres
sure of water. They have been afraid for
the safety of the dam during all the freshet.
dispatch from Gorham, N. H., Saturday
morning, says:
The Androscoggin river between Gorham
and Umbagog Lake is the highest for years,
caused by the melting snow in the lake re-
glon. The highway at places in Gorham,
Berlin and Milan is impossible and the mail
is discontinued. Main street in Gorham
from Mullen bridge to Samuel Spofford's is
some three feet under water and boats are
used by the citizens to go and come from
ported. Milan bridge is reported tottering
and is liable to be carried away and the lum-
ber booms are being put to some test. Should
the booms break great damage would prob
ably result. The water is flowing through
the mills of the White Mountain Pulp and
Paper Company at Berlin Falls.
Mr.. w. W. Brown of the Berlin Mills, says
of the condition of things at Enrol, "The
dam went out Thursday morning The logs
are still safe and so are the Berlin Mills.
There was rise of from two to three feet
probably when the dam went out. l don't
think the water has risen any higher since
the dam went. The country is flooded,
roads, and all the section round about. 1t is
impossible to get from Berlin to Enrol except
on foot The damage, except the loss of the
dam, is slight thus far Thele was 13b feet
head on the dam when it gave way. Mr..
John B. Straw lost Dlost of his pine logs with
which he was going to rebuild the dam this
summer.
Practically the river is full of logs between
Berlin Mills and Enrol dam. There are 20,-
600 logs in the river here owned by r. c. Pin
gree d. Co and the Berlin Mills Company.
There are few logs above the dam. Milan
is flooded, and so is the whole country
There has been big flood. The water is
ten feet higher than for many years past
We have been driving logs ever since the
river opened, up to Thursday morning. The
river has been rising ever since the snow be-
gan to melt, before the rise when the dam
went out, and now we've got tremendous
freshet up there All of our logs will proba-
bly, be kept safe If the river doesn't rise any
higher, and it looks now as if the water was
at its height. The logs are badly mixed up"